Ms Belahonia, 38, who wanted to file for divorce, discovered through Facebook that he had re-married, Hull Crown Court heard.

The conduct of Mr Theyers, of Inverness, was described as "reprehensible" by Judge Jeremy Richardson QC during a three day trial but admitted there was no case to answer.

The couple met when Ms Belahonia moved to Nottingham while Mr Theyers was working at the airport, and married in 2006 at her parent's home in Peru, while pregnant with his child.

Ms Belahonia returned to Britain and was later granted full UK citizenship in 2013.

After their marriage deteriorated in 2010, she tracked him down on Facebook in an effort to file for a divorce, but then discovered he had married Louise Martin in 2011 at Bridlington Town Hall.

Mr Theyers claimed his marriage to Ms Belahonia in Peru was a sham to enable her to get a UK visa.

During the trial, it was heard how she paid $50 to "a man in the street with a brown envelope" to obtain a marriage certificate.

The judge said: "I have no doubt the defendant has behaved in a reprehensible fashion. Although he does not come out of this well, I have misgivings about the validity of the marriage among the experts and that is not proper to leave to a jury."